No charges in burning case

A 7-year-old Ocala boy recently spent several weeks at Shands undergoing surgery, skin grafts and other treatment for severe burns.

By Austin L. MillerStaff writer

A 7-year-old Ocala boy recently spent several weeks at Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville undergoing surgery, skin grafts and other treatment for severe burns on his hands and lower body.

He is home now and resting, but not comfortably. His father says he is withdrawn, anxious and prone to nightmares.

Is this the predictable reaction from a child who was burned when some boyhood play got dangerously out of hand?

Or is this the behavior of a traumatized boy whose older playmates subjected him to a racially motivated attack?

The boy’s playmates, ages 10, 11 and 13, say it all was an accident. They are white.

The victim, Wendell Wright Jr., who is black, has sent mixed signals.

The boy told a prosecutor he was hurt in an accident, not an attack.

He has told family and nurses that he was victimized by the older boys, one of whom had called him a racial slur.

He also told a Star-Banner reporter last week that the attack was intentional.

The boy’s account to a sheriff’s detective could be read two ways: The burning was an accident or an act of aggression.

The State Attorney’s Office, citing the victim’s direct statement to the prosecutor and other evidence, said there is no case to prosecute.

But Wendell’s family disagrees. They say he was attacked, and that anything he says to the contrary is a result of confusion, fear or the effects of strong pain medication.

Sometimes the boy cries out at night.

“I have to tell him: ‘You’re not on fire, son,’ ” said the boy’s father, Wendell Wright Sr.

Wendell Jr. has to wear gloves on his hands. He also wears a specially made pant to cover his skin; it prevents infection and allows the skin to heal faster.

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On Sept. 30, the victim and the older boys were playing in the 7800 block of Southeast 22nd Avenue.

Marion County Sheriff’s Detective Erik Dice was called to investigate an injury at that location. In his report, Dice said he was told Wendell had been playing with neighborhood children who were attempting to light a brick on fire.

During the prank, someone poured gasoline on the brick, leading to the fire and Wendell’s injuries.

The detective said he saw the brick; a plastic dish, believed to be the item used to transport the gasoline; a red lighter; and what appeared to be burned pants.

Dice interviewed the three older boys that day in person at the Sheriff’s Office.

The names of the older boys are being withheld because of their ages; Wendell’s name is used with the permission of his family.

In essence, the 10- and 11-year-old boys said they and Wendell were trying to light a brick on fire. Wendell got some gasoline from under a nearby carport to help ignite the blaze.

Some of that gas spilled. Wendell’s trousers caught fire and he was burned.

The 11-year-old boy said they ran and got a garden hose to spray Wendell, who removed his pants before running home. Those boys denied throwing gasoline on Wendell.

The 13-year-old boy told the detective the other boys were trying to set fire to a scratch-off lottery ticket while he was talking on the phone with a girl.

He said he heard someone yelling about their shorts and looked and saw Wendell’s shorts on fire. He said he didn’t know how the shorts caught fire and didn’t see anyone get gasoline.

In early October, Dice went to Shands and interviewed Wendell. The boy said the 10-year-old had once directed a racial slur at him.

As for the fire: Wendell said the 11-year-old had found the lighter. He said the 10-year-old retrieved a bowl from inside a home and poured gas into that bowl.

The 13-year-old, he said, got the brick and was trying to pour gasoline on it. He said the oldest boy then tossed the container, which had some gasoline in it, at him.

He said the 13-year-old lit the brick and the fire caught Wendell.

He said the 11-year-old had a hose, but then had put it down. Wendell said he removed his pants and ran home.

Between Oct. 17 and 26, the detective re-interviewed the three older boys. Their stories remained largely the same: The injury was the result of an accident, not an attack.

The 10-year-old boy admitted calling Wendell a “bad name” on the day of the fire. But the older boys said Wendell got the gasoline.

The 13-year-old boy denied throwing the plastic dish at Wendell or lighting the fire.

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Dice said statements and evidence appear to show that the 11-year-old lit the fire and that Wendell was burned from the addition of the gasoline to the lit piece of paper that was sitting on top of the brick.

Dice said he hasn’t found any evidence to suggest the act was conducted intentionally to injure Wendell.

Assistant State Attorney William M. Gladson reviewed the detective’s report and personally interviewed Wendell on Nov. 6. The boy told him “the other children did not intentionally light him on fire,” according to a memo Gladson prepared.

Based on his review of the evidence and his interview with the boy, he found “there is no credible, admissible evidence to support the allegation that this incident was intentional and that there is insufficient evidence to support any charges being filed in this case.”

From the investigation, Gladson said the statements of all the children directly contradict the victim’s account and there were no independent witnesses to what happened.

As for the State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Sheriff’s Office: Both concluded the fire was “accidental and the result of fire play.”

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According to his family, Wendell has become withdrawn when it comes to children and doesn’t play with his four siblings, ages 1, 2, 11 and 12.

Both Wendell’s father and his grandmother, Janice Porter, say Wendell had told family, doctors and nurses he was intentionally set on fire.

They say the powerful medication he’s been given — oxycodone, for the burns — and his fear — thinking something may happen to him again — made him say the act was not malicious.